Old House Links

What we are reading this week about decorating and renovating old houses:

An Afternoon With profiles two illustrators, Nora and Steven, and their serene yet vibrant Brooklyn digs. The traditional townhouse interior is painted white and warmed up with an eclectic mixture of vintage furniture from all eras and colorful textiles from around the world. Click through for many more photos. Also check out September’s post on Mengly Hernandez’s Manhattan apt, where she makes the most of an awkwardly shaped and potentially impersonal space that is so typical of New York real estate.Nora and Steven [An Afternoon With]Photo by Michael Mundy

Reclaimed Home scores an ancient marble counter from Eddie’s on Grand for only $25! She will pair it with a copper sink she has in the basement and look for a base. “Guarantee the faucet will cost more than the entire setup,” she said. Reclaimed Home also scores a beautiful medicine cabinet in need of stripping for only $30 from Vaccaro Brothers Scrap Metal in Gowanus. Next up: A salvage and antiques shopping trip to New Jersey and then Albany. Click through for details and a guide to resources.Salvage Shopping Spree [Reclaimed Home]Photo by Reclaimed Home

We’re mad for this kitchen, particularly the porcelain Alabax light fixture from Schoolhouse Electric, which we’re thinking of using in our kitchen. (See, we’re not only about slavish reconstruction of the 1890s, ha). And believe it or not, those are Ikea cabinets! Love the bead board ceiling. That’s a look, by the way, we’re seeing everywhere. We hear from people who’ve done it that’s it not so easy to apply bead board to a ceiling. Apparently, in this case, judging by the photos, the bead board was already on the walls and they added it to the ceiling. Our mudroom has it too — we just have to remove the sheetrock and strip it. But the really unbelievable thing about this renovation is that it took only six weeks, including the architects’ design work, apparently. How is that even possible? This could only happen outside New York, right? Click through for lots of shots from various angles.A Sonoma Kitchen With a Six-Week Deadline [Remodelista]Photo by Remodelista

One more thing: We just want to give a shoutout to recent design stories in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal that were both set in Brooklyn, in case you missed them. In Fort Greene, they repurposed a $2 wastebasket as a chandelier. You’ll have to click the links to see the photos.